If Twitter was actual publishing, I could confidently say that I’m extremely prolific, but, then again, it were life, I could say that I’m social.
For all the negativity that people associate with Twitter, and social media generally, I feel like I’ve really found community there. It’s strange to think about how and where you build community, but it’s definitely changing. I’ve even made friends that have become friends in the real world.
As for kidlit Twitter, the opportunities to engage are endless. I recently entered two Twitter events. First there was PBParty, a competition for a chance to showcase a query and the first 60-70 words of a PB manuscript. The results won’t be posted for another couple of weeks. Immediately following PBParty, was PitMad. I used the PBPitch story as well as one other for PitMad. In my opinion, pitching two manuscripts in PitMad doesn’t work very well since you can only pin one to your profile, but I still ended up with one agent ♥ and one publisher ♥. Whether this translates into an offer to publish or for representation remains to to be seen, but it’s still a useful exercise in learning to frame and pitch a project.
Win or ‘lose’, I took the opportunity to better connect with the writing community and look forward to engaging with and supporting my newest Twitter friends. I even convinced a writing friend to enter PitMad and she ended up with agent ♥s, so that’s a definite ‘win’ since I’m cheering from the sidelines.
One day, when the time comes, I know that I’ll have the community to support my work too.